DURHAM — Brian McCloskey wants to be reinstated as University of New Hampshire women's ice hockey coach.

That's the figurative bottom line of a three-page letter sent by a Boston-based law firm to University of New Hampshire President Mark W. Huddleston after the school fired McClosky early last month.

The letter from McClosky's attorney is dated Dec. 6 and is one of three documents Foster's obtained relating to McCloskey's reaction to his firing. The other documents, which can be read in their entirety on fosters.com, are an undated email from McCloskey to his fellow UNH coaches and another from him dated Dec. 18 to UNH Board of Trustees Chair Pamela Diamantis.

“I have a great relationship with the players,” McCloskey said Tuesday during an interview with Foster's in his first public statement since the firing. “They're the unfortunate collateral damage out of all this.”

McCloskey's dismissal followed the investigation of an incident involving one of his players that took place during a Nov. 30 game against Ohio State at the Whittemore Center. He was officially suspended the Monday after the Saturday incident and was given an opportunity to explain what happened on Wednesday.

He was fired the next day.

UNH issued a press release on Dec. 5 stating that McCloskey was no longer employed by the school for having “inappropriate physical contact” with a player on the bench.

McCloskey, who coached at UNH for two decades, believes that the wording of the school's announcement suggests his conduct could have been sexual in nature. He wants the school to apologize and publicly state that wasn't the case.

“The ensuing humiliation and embarrassment that my family and I experienced … is difficult to express,” McCloskey stated in his email to his coaching colleagues shortly after his dismissal.

“The defamation was ridiculous,” he said Tuesday, “but I can survive that. The mishandling of it was unconscionable.”

In that same email, he disputes the school's characterization of the incident. His email states that his termination letter from the school described his actions as “grabbing the back of the player's jersey, pulling her onto the bench and pointing a finger at her face mask while reprimanding her for not listening and talking back.”

In his letter to UNH board chair Diamantis, McCloskey refuted that description of the incident and requested an independent review.

According to McCloskey's letter, the player in the incident responded to some constructive criticism by “shouting profanity-laced excuses” and turning her back on him. McCloskey then reached forward with his left hand and pulled on the shoulder of her jersey so that she would be seated on the bench.

McCloskey wrote, “The 'inappropriate physical contact' that the University found objectionable was my pulling on the jersey of a female hockey player to ensure I had her full attention, a player who had turned her back to me and abandoned all signs of discipline and respect. I reprimanded her and left no doubt that her behavior was unacceptable.”

McCloskey and his attorney, Laura Studen, are claiming defamation, breach of contract and wrongful termination.

“I never sought legal counsel,” McCloskey said. “They came to me. They were outraged.

“This isn't about money,” he added. “It's about doing the right thing.”

In the law firm's letter to Huddleston, Studen calls the school's decision “not only a vast overreaction, and an excessive response, lacking in any proportionality, but it was also improper and illegal. Accordingly, this is to demand his immediate reinstatement.”

UNH President Mark Huddleston and Athletic Director Marty Scarano could not be reached for comment Tuesday, although Huddleston did issue a statement through UNH Media Relations Director Erika Mantz.

“This is a very difficult situation for everyone involved, and the decision to terminate Coach McCloskey was not made lightly,” Huddleston said in the statement. “At the end of the day, the safety and well-being of all of our students is and must be our number one priority. It is not appropriate for me to comment further on a personnel issue.”

“Coaches are role models for our students and responsible for their dignity and safety,” Scarano said in the original release, “and we have zero tolerance for unsportsmanlike behavior on any of our athletic teams.”

In the email to his colleagues, McCloskey describes several meetings he and his assistant Stephanie Jones had with the player earlier in the season, whom he claims has had a “history of misconduct.”

McCloskey believes his tenure and track record at UNH should have been taken into account.

“Frankly, I could not believe that after 20 long and loyal years of employment, I was being terminated based on this conduct, let alone in this manner,” McCloskey states in the letter to his peers.

“If you ask around, there was a lot of disagreement about how this was handled,” McCloskey told Foster's on Tuesday.

“Ultimately you try to treat people professionally. Obviously, I was very disappointed with how it was handled.”